Watering down a revolution: Cuba's struggle for water

More than 50 percent of Cuba's water is lost through outdated water pipelines. Sometimes, miniature rivers flow through the streets, like here in Trinidad. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

Cuba is experiencing one of its worst droughts in 100 years. Although the government provides drinking water, the shortages caused by the lack of rain are compounded by an aging and dilapidated infrastructure. More than 50 percent of the available water is lost to a leaking drainage system and state water officials must manually change the flow of water in the pipes every day to ensure an equal water divide between houses and neighbourhoods.

Even so, some cities in Cuba only have running water once every five days, and only for a few hours at a time. Residents use these hours to fill water tanks and personal reservoirs, usually on roofs. Because the water pressure in the system is so low, Cubans have resorted to using garden hoses and private motors to connect a street-level water supply with their rooftop storage.

In conditions of extreme drought, such as the one Cuba is currently facing, every city block is permitted to request one government water truck. However, the trucks are too slow to arrive for many Cubans, who pay illegal water vendors to transport water, by horse carriage, from houses that have running water to houses that do not.

Several water tanks installed on roofs are visible from Havana Vieja. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

In Valle de los Ingenis, every house has at least one water tank to store water. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

In La Habana Vieja, the motor to pump the water upwards in Omar's house was stolen. He now has to carry water in buckets from the public tap on the street to his roof terrace. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

During the hours when water flows to the pumps in Cienfuegos, residents can be seen filling and carrying buckets of water. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

Neighbourhoods can order the 'pipas', or water trucks, free of charge in the event of extreme drought. Private businesses such as hotels must pay a fee. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

Not everyone can afford the luxury of a washing machine. This Cuban lady in Vinales washes for the entire neighbourhood. She has to add water by hand. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

The state is responsible for the maintenance of the pipelines, but the materials must be imported from abroad. Thus, many repairs are patchwork and temporary. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

In Trinidad, where people have running water for only two hours every five days, water is also available for sale by illegal water vendors. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

An illegal vendor with a horse carriage fills his large water tank with water from a house in a district with running water. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

Rodrigo Perez de Cienfuegos sells water hoses, which are indispensable in the daily lives of Cubans. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

Whether in large tanks or small bottles, Cubans must store water for use over a few days. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

Neighbours wait for state water officers to fix a water pipe in Cienfuegos. While they wait, polluted water contaminates their houses. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

In Trinidad, a man connects a self-designed pipeline and motor to a public street tap to fill the reservoirs in his house, more than 100 metres away. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]

An old water pipeline has leaked water for years, but no one has come to repair it. [Sanne Derks/Al Jazeera]